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Skid Row explores the lives of several homeless men and reveals how their pasts explain some of the reasons why they've turned to booze and surviving on the streets of Vancouver's lower east side.
In Rickshaw, we meet Ram, a sixteen-year-old who moves from a small village to pull a rickshaw in Calcutta, India. The film deals with the endless cycle of poverty as father teaches son the trade.
Lighter moments include Ram's first sighting of the big the city and the silent yet loving bond between father and son. Both films are early examples of King's work, both employing "Voice-of-God" narration.
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A definitive portrait of this great filmmaker. King's career spans 50 years, during which time he has challenged the conventions of the documentary art form. In the documentary we see King still at work, and still challenging the viewer. The film looks back at pivotal moments in King's career, seamlessly weaving together interviews with King, images and passages from his major works (1956-2006), and a cinema-vérité look at his film, Memory for Max, Ida and Company, a TVO co-production.
A controversial film about troubled kids. The staff at Warrendale use "holding" in an effort to have kids talk through their complex emotions. Warrendale is one of King's most renowned films. Even though it was produced for the CBC back in 1967 it was shelved due to disturbing content. King released it theatrically. TVO was the first to broadcast the film, on Human Edge in 1997.
A raw exploration of a marriage in free fall. In an effort to salvage their marriage this middle-class couple opens the door to their home to expose the complex dynamics inherent in coupledom.
Over a four-month period, this film follows the daily lives of Max, Claire, Ida, and five other residents at an elder care facility in Toronto. Allan King, in collaboration with Baycrest's Apotex Centre, Jewish Home for the Aged in Toronto, has created a powerful and compassionate film that deconstructs the mythology of dementia.
Brian Henry has been to jail and reformed. Now he works with 10 at-risk youth. Racial stereotyping, the threat of violence, and jail blocks them at every turn. Mathematician John Mighton helps them discover how brilliant they can be and gives them hope.
A highly respectful, brave and emotional "actuality drama" about five patients dying in the palliative care unit of the Salvation Army Toronto Grace Health Centre. This film is difficult to watch yet reassuring in the loving way family and friends gather to witness the intimacy of dying.
The Agenda with Steve Paikin Allan Gregg in Conversation Big Ideas Think Again
